MCA returns to Negeri Sembilan assembly, MIC still shut out

 Slim victory in DAP strongholds Chennah and Repah suggests MCA scraped past thanks to the BN-PN pact.

MCA, led by Wee Ka Siong, has not had a representative in the Negeri Sembilan state assembly since 2013, but SA Vigneswaran’s MIC had an assemblyman there until 2023.

PETALING JAYA:

MCA has ended its 13-year absence from the Negeri Sembilan legislative assembly after winning two seats in the state election yesterday, while MIC’s wait for representation continues.

Both parties sat out the state election in 2023, when BN fielded only Umno candidates in 25 seats in a pact with Pakatan Harapan. BN went on to win 14 seats.

Among the notable results last night was Siow Kong Choon’s victory in Chennah, where he defeated DAP secretary-general Loke Siew Fook, who had held the seat since 2013, by 688 votes.

MCA’s Koh Kim Swee also wrested another DAP stronghold, Repah, by defeating S Veerapan with a 444-vote majority.

The party’s return came despite the final days of the campaign being overshadowed by racial rhetoric following remarks by Perikatan Nasional election director Sanusi Nor that suggested the non-Malays can fall back on ancestral homelands outside Malaysia.

MCA president Wee Ka Siong had urged Sanusi to clarify his remarks, which he said caused concern among the Chinese community, while MIC president SA Vigneswaran took a more critical stance, urging BN to review its alliance with PN.

The Sanusi controversy raised questions over whether non-Malay voters would reject the BN-PN electoral arrangement, particularly as MCA and MIC were contesting under the BN banner while PN campaigned alongside the coalition.

Nonetheless, Chennah and Repah are mixed seats with a nearly even distribution of Malay and Chinese voters. MCA’s slim victory in both seats suggests it scraped past thanks to the BN-PN pact’s consolidation of Malay votes.

MIC did not enjoy a similar outcome, as its absence in the state assembly since 2023 continues for at least another term.

The party’s candidates were defeated in the non-Malay-majority seat of Seremban Jaya, which DAP retained with a 5,701-vote majority, and the mixed seat of Sri Tanjung, where the margins were slimmer as PKR won by 1,335 votes.

Before the election, the 36-member Negeri Sembilan assembly comprised PH with 17 seats, Umno with 14, and PN five.

With MCA back in the state assembly, the party is widely expected to be given a spot in the incoming state executive council. - FMT